Evan Baehr A Place for Scattered Ideation. Step 1: Marinate: Step 2: Evangelize.

Web 2.0 is like a Chinese Buffet: Initially Exciting, Disappointing in the End

For a long time I have considered myself rather tech-savvy.  In middle school I was an “operator” on an Internet Relay Chat channel; I remember my first 9GB UWSCSI-III hard drive (which was about $2,000) and the day we installed the ISDN line. Then I remember my first PDA—oh the ability to have all of my contacts with me digitally was amazing (although admittedly a bit odd for a sixth grader!).   In college I was an early adopter of Facebook and Gmail and was one of the first of my peers to get a Blackberry.

A few recent events sent me on a more adventurous exploration of web 2.0 / social media tools.  I attended the Personal Democracy Forum, heard Tara Hunt (author of Whuffie Factor), read about six books on blogging and new media marketing (Robert Scoble, David Meerman Scott, and Charlene Li), added to my Google reader several web 2.0 / social media blogs, got the new iPhone, and have been exploring lots of iPhone applications.  I had hoped that through this adventure I would find some tools that would give me greater control over my daily life by integrating and synchronizing my data, giving me access to what I need when I need it. This exploration has felt more like a sprint around a giant hot foods buffet than a pleasant culinary experience; what initially seems remarkable--the choices, the cuisines--actually has made for a really unpleasant meal.  What I had hoped would be an integrated experience with natural segues, transitions, and integration has been more like one overflowing plate with BBQ chicken, sushi, pizza, Pad thai, asparagus, and a brownie--things that, when consumed alone, are delightful, yet when combined produce chaos.